Creative Retreat maker reflection

They are how we connect with each other, how we organise our societies, how we trade, how we behave, how we learn, how we think and feel.

I’ve been helping global brands tell their stories for over 30 years and can say from experience it’s not huge teams and multi-million pound budgets that make the difference between success and failure. It’s whether or not the story creates a real connection between the teller and the listener, reader or viewer.

I’m also a potter and run my business on my own in my studio. So to be invited to talk to a group of fellow creative business owners about storytelling at the Derbyshire Makes Creative Retreat in Youlgreave was a great opportunity. Not just to help them understand the power of storytelling and discover some simple techniques that they can put into action for their businesses, but also to discuss and share problems, knowledge and quite a few laughs.

Running a small or solo creative business is hard. Like so many others I am the boss of my company. I am also all the employees, design department, manufacturing, purchasing, accounts, sales and marketing, IT, delivery driver and cleaner.

It can be easy to become overwhelmed by the number of things to do, to decide what is important, to create time and space to just stop, reflect and think. Events like the Derbyshire Makes Creative Retreat give people a chance to pause, to share their stories with each other, to connect in ways that are helpful, practical and meaningful. We all have our own different issues and challenges – our own individual stories – but we are also all part of a larger story, a quest that we are all on together to grow our businesses by connecting more deeply with people through our work.

There is sometimes the feeling that storytelling is ‘another thing to add to the list’. The fact is, we’re all doing it anyway, all day, every day. We did it during the session at the Creative Retreat. Everything we say and do is about our businesses, every product we make, every interaction with a customer, every social post, every time we wrap and pack something, every email newsletter, all send tiny parts of the story to other people, searching for connection. In many ways your business is the story it tells.

Storytelling is also a creative exercise. It’s fun! It’s not doing the accounts or ordering supplies. During the session I could see creative sparks of ideas coming to people there and then on how they might use the power of storytelling in their businesses.

We can find the time for anything if it’s worth the investment, if it adds value. A point proven to me by what I got out of the Creative Retreat. I hope everyone there, now all armed to be creative storytellers, feel the same.

Derek Harbinson, Potter and Writer

Derek delivered a workshop on storytelling as part of the Creative Retreat in Youlgreave in March. You can read more about the Retreat here.

The Creative Retreat was supported by Create Growth.